Bulletin

PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF OTHER SUMMER SCHOOLS AND OF STUDENTS ENROLLED THEREIN IN 1918-ACCORDING TO LENGTH OF SESSION, fig 5.

The average length of session of all summer schools reported in 1918 was 7.6 weeks. This average, however, is not especially significant, since not a single summer school had a session of exactly this period. In fact, only 18 summer schools had a session of 7 weeks. By reference to figures 4 and 5, it is noted that the most common type of summer school is the one having a session of 6 weeks. Of the total number, 158 colleges, universities, and normals, or 44.3 per cent, held a session of 6 weeks, and 42 other summer schools, or 34.4 per cent of the total number, held a session for the same length of time. In other words, 200 schools out of a total of 480, or 42 per cent, held a session of 6 weeks.

It will be observed especially in figure 4 that a fairly large group of schools hold sessions of 8, 9, 10, or 11 weeks. Altogether, 126 colleges, universities, and normal schools fall in this group. In all probability the tendency in such institutions is to maintain a longer term than 6 weeks. Future comparative studies of the summer schools of these institutions will verify or refute this assumption. Another significant fact portrayed in figure 4 is that, while 44.3 per cent of such schools maintain a 6 weeks term, they enroll only 38.8 per cent of the students; and that, while the institutions maintaining sessions of 8, 9, 10, or 11 weeks constitute 35.3 per cent of the total number, they enroll 45.4 per cent of the students. This fact
may be taken to indicate a tendency on the part of students to seek schools maintaining the longer term. This conclusion seems to apply only to summer schools or colleges, universities, and normal schools, as the converse is true of other summer schools offering work below col

AVERAGE COST OF CONDUCTING JUMMER SCHOOLS PER STUDENT * fig. 6.

legiate grade, as is shown in figure 5, where 34.4 per cent of the 6 weeks' schools enroll 40.1 per cent of the total number of students, while 24.6 per cent of the schools running 8, 9, 10, or 11 weeks enroll only 14.8 per cent of the students. It is evident, therefore, that there is a tendency for students to attend a longer summer term if the work offered therein is accredited on a degree or counts toward graduation. Whether these conditions are characteristic of these institutions during the regular year's work has not been ascertained and is not germane to the discussion. The conclusion that students attend summer schools to shorten the period required for graduation is warranted. It may be pointed out that the institutions in figures 4 and 5 falling at the extremes of each graph are extraordinary. Those offering a very short course are more like institutes than summer schools, while those maintaining a very long term either hold two or more sessions or begin the special summer term very early in the spring, usually to accommodate teachers who seek admission to a summer school as soon as their school term is ended.

COST OF MAINTAINING SUMMER SCHOOLS.

Figure 6 shows the variation in average cost for a period of years. It will be noticed that the average cost per student of conducting summer schools in 1918 was $24.14. This is a decided increase over

the average cost in 1916, which was only $14.85. This apparent discrepancy is partly explained by the fact that so many special independent teacher-training schools, in which the cost of maintenance is extremely low, have not been included in the report this year. In 1916, 187 schools included in the 231 schools from which a report was not sought this year reported an enrollment of 74,225 students and a total aggregate cost of $546,366. The per capita cost of maintenance, therefore, was only $7.36. As the per capita cost for all summer schools in 1916 was $14.85, the per capita cost of maintenance in the 187 schools eliminated was only about one-half as much as the cost in all schools reporting at that time. If the 187 schools had been excluded from the 1916 report, the per capita cost would have been $17.85. This average cost is directly comparable with the average cost for 1918 and has been so indicated on the graph. The increased per capita cost, therefore, for maintaining summer schools since 1916 has been 35 per cent. Here again, the average does not tell the whole story, inasmuch as no account has been taken of the increase or decrease of the length of term of summer sessions. Evidently the per capita cost of maintaining a group of schools for 7 weeks will be greater than for 6 weeks. For this reason it is necessary to compute the per capita cost per week. In Table 4 the schools reporting cost of maintenance have been grouped according to the length of the session held. In the collegiate and normal school group the per capita cost per week varies from $16.73 in schools maintained for 2 weeks to $0.89 in schools maintained for 18 weeks. In other summer schools the per capita cost ranges from $10.64 in schools running for 2 weeks to $0.35 in a school maintained for 20 weeks. In general, the longer the term the less the per capita cost of maintenance. This statement is made clearer by reference to figure 7, in which a gradual decrease in cost is shown from left to right. The per capita cost per week in the largest groups of colleges, universities, and normal schools, viz, in schools running for 6, 8, 9, 10, and 11 weeks is less in schools maintained for 8, 9, and 10 weeks. The per capita costs reported for schools maintained for a very short or for a very long term are unusual and are not characteristic of the group as a whole. The extreme variation from the usual cost of summer schools is brought out clearly in figure 7, in which the per capita cost per week is given for colleges, universities, and normal schools, for other summer schools below collegiate rank, and for both classes combined. It may be added that 454 summer schools, out of a total of 480, reported the estimated cost of maintenance. In other words, 95 per cent of all summer schools reported cost. In these schools over 97 per cent of the total enrollment is represented.